Garden 花園
by DuangKitty
Summary: The duo encountering an old man and his garden on the rim of the ruined city. Life, death&hope. Memento mori.


Chito and Yuuri get on to a new floor of this spiral city, which like many other places, is abandoned and aged. Deep lines cut into the concrete and occasionally small blocks of it drop and hit the floor. Dust covers the road as well as the walls. It is a city without lives. Over these ruins, however, at the rim of this level there are colors that contrast so vividly with the grey of the concrete—a scene the duo have never seen before. After they make a turn around a corner, ahead are flowers fenced within blocks of concrete.

"Wow! Chii-chan! These flowers are the same color as my hair!" says Yuuri, while jumping out of the modified Kettenkrad and sprinting to the garden, abandoning her companion.

"There are many flowers that are yellow, Yuu." says Chito, who gradually stops the vehicle near the garden and rejoins her friend after a few seconds, "In a garden, it is really easy to find one that matches your hair."

"But we don't have one, do we?" Yuuri says with excitement, "Let me find one that matches yours."

"Quit it," says Chito with a sign, "No flower is black."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"It will get burned by the sun," says an aged voice coming from behind, "You guys are really humans right? Not my imagination?"

Chito and Yuuri turn around, and in front of them, with a walking stick in his right hand, is an old man that looks like he in his mid-50s. He has strands of brown in his white hair and wears a worn-out light brown leather jacket that is contaminated by dots of oil, and a necklace that is composed of a hanged ring. Even though this man barely has anything in common with her grandpa, Chito recalled him. Just before Chito's thoughts drift back to the past, Yuuri's shouting pulled her back to reality.

"Oh old man! Of course, we are real."

"Yuuri, don't be rude!" says Chito while slapping her in the shoulder," I am sorry sir, she is always careless about things."

"Oh, it is fine," the old man replies, "If you have not seen any human for a while, you would prefer a more lively atmosphere. It is really nice to see you girls."

"My name is Yuuri."

"My name is Chito. We are from the lower level and are trying to get to the top floor."

"Oh, I am Touma." says the old man, "The lower level huh? Are they still at war?" He immediately realized something and quickly adds: "You guys must be really tired. Let's go inside my home. It must be difficult for you guys."

Chito and Yuuri follow Touma into his house, which is reconstructed from the first floor of a building that is the closest to the rim. The walls are cracked and occasionally few beams of light shine through it, but generally, it is safe and in better condition than other places. The living room has two windows with curtains, a table made of concrete, a cabinet, a stove, and two old recycled sofas, one small and one big, which all have burn marks and exposed wires. Touma takes a seat on the smaller sofa and the girls sit on the larger one. On the cabinet there are a lot of things that Chito has never seen before, such as cups made of something that is as clear as the ice, an ornament shaped in a circle and decorated with hanging feathers, and a thick wooden stick with fur at one end. Learning from Touma, Chito knows that these objects are glass, a dream catcher, and a Chinese caligraphy brush.

"It is nice that I can get some sunshine and look at the ocean, but the wind is also stronger and the temperature lower, so sometimes my keens hurt," says Touma while he pours water into three tea cups and then passes two of them to the girls, "I just put some boiled water on stove before you guys came. Drink some so you girls can warm yourselves up."

After taking a sip, Touma puts the cup down and says, " So, how are the lower levels? Are they still at war?"

"It was still going on when we left," Yuuri says after staring at the cup for a while and taking a sip, "What is this cup? It is so delicate! I have never seen one like this before!"

After the old man chuckles and informs them it is something called China, Yurri comments that she has never heard of it and it sounds funny. Chito then realizes that there are few things on the table. It is a necklace and a very old photo, in which are two people who look like a couple. The man has dark hair with a light-colored leather jacket and the women has light-colored hair and wears a light-colored dress. Suddenly Chito realizes that the man in the photo is Touma, so the woman in the photo must be… After taking a glimpse of the old man's ring necklace, however, Chito chose not to ask. Unfortunately, Yuuri also notices it.

"Who is this woman?" Yuuri asks.

Chito immediately hits Yuuri's helmet out of embarrassment.

As Touma recalls it, the story needs to start from the time when he and his wife, Akari, were still at the lower levels. He owned a small shop, and Akari was a teacher. Even though they were never rich, their life was sweet and together they believed they will have a congenial future. Their life was peaceful and normal, and according to Touma the only part that was more intriguing was his love for tea. Even though he had never tasted it, but because of the description from his father, he believed that tea must be very luscious. Even though it was quiet an impossible goal, Touma has always dreamed to open a tea shop. He actually got his hands on some tea plant seed in addition to some flower seeds.

However, all of that was broken shortly after the war started. Together with many others, they fled, and luckily because of his father, they got their hands on a vehicle and thus were able to leave the war zone faster than anybody else. They went to higher and higher levels, and to their surprise, many floors didn't have people living in it, and the town seemed to be already abandoned for a long time. Bored with escaping and urgently needing a home to settle, they chose to live on this floor. Together they built the garden, planted the flowers and tea plants, and furnished the building. Even though they have to utilize recycled materials that they found around the floor, with each other and Akari's pregnancy, they supported each other and tried to live through the hardship.

Without a doctor and enough medical knowledge, Akari suffered a premature birth. The baby girl was only six months old, so she passed away. Akari's hemorrhage was not properly treated, and after a few days of sever fever, she passed way. Touma buried his wife and daughter in the garden. Next year's flower bloomed very well.

"I wanted to commit suicide," says Touma, looking into the tea cup, "but when I think about the garden and the house we have taken care of for so long, I decided to live on like this. Maybe I am wrong. I don't know."

With only the sound of the breeze and ocean waves, the room is silent.

"Wait, let me prepare you guys some tea." says Touma after a while and walks to his room, "It is very bitter though. You can't find that out unless you experience it."

That night, Yuuri and Chito sleep in the guest room. Yuuri, as she usually does, sleeps very well. Chito, however, stares at the garden and her room's celling for a really long time before falling asleep.

After staying for another day, Yuuri and Chito decide to leave. Touma insists on preparing some supplies for them, so Yuuri and Chito try to repair the cracks in the walls for him. At dawn, Chito, sitting on the sofa, looks again at the photo on the table. Only this time, she shifts her focus on the necklace beside it. It is a necklace made of two pieces of metal, one colored in blue and the other in white, both shaped like a wing. The two parts hang together, forming the wings of a bird. Even though it is not perfect, Chito finds there is something about this necklace that evokes emotions in her heart.

Yuuri, noticing Chito's unusual feeling, turns to Touma, who just got some flowers from the garden.

"Chito seems to really like the wing necklace. It is rare that she is like this. Can she have it?"

"Yuuri! What are you doing! He has already given us many supplies!" Chito says uncontrollably. She doesn't want to mess up the last farewell.

To her surprise, however, Touma answered yes.

Sitting on the sofa, Touma picks up the necklace, traces its rim with his finger, and says, "This is the necklace I made for my daughter."

"No, no! How can I take this!" says Chito with surprise.

"It is all gone, Chito," Touma says, looking at the necklace for the last time, putting it in Chito's hands forcibly, and looking into her eyes, "If my daughter didn't die, she probably would be around your age now, or maybe a little older. Take it, I think it fits you."

Tears suddenly start flowing around the rim of her eyes as Chito looks at the blue and white wings in her hands.

Chito puts the necklace on and gets on the Kettenkrad with Yuuri. Holding the wings in her hand and looking at Touma for one last time, she starts the vehicle. Yuuri continues to wave to Touma until she could no longer see him. She then asks Chito: "Chii-chan, why do people like flowers? They are so weak, so small and you can't survive on it. I don't understand."

"I don't know, Yuu." answers Chito, who is used to her friend's random questions, "Maybe they just need some sweetness in their lives."

They are silent for a while.

"Chii-chan, then what about tea? It is so bitter and surely you can't survive on that! Why does Touma still plant it and drink it?"

"Chii-chan, why does he keep the garden? Isn't it better to plant things like konjak?"

"Chii-chan…"

"I don't know! Yuuri! Figure it out through life!" shouts Chito impatiently.

With the flower, tea, and food Touma prepared for them, the girls left the garden, the home, and the old man, and continued their trip up the spiral city.


End file.
